变则可久,通则不乏——《通变》辨义

Adaptation Leads to Perpetuity while Inheritance Leads to Sufficiency:A General Survey of Adaptation and Inheritance

通变是刘勰提出的一个重要文学理论命题。刘勰在《通变》篇中首先强调继承在文学创作中的重要性:"通则可久",同时又指出了革新对于文学创作的重要意义:"变则不乏"。刘勰的通变论主要受到《周易·系辞》的影响。以往学者们大多认为通变论侧重的是"通"而非"变",更多关注于"通"即继承问题的研究,而对于"变"即革新问题关注不够。探究刘勰的通变论,对当今的文学创作和文学理论建设仍具有重要的借鉴意义。

The concepts of adaptation and inheritance are an important theoretical proposition advanced by Liu Xie in his literary studies. Liu puts emphasis on the role of inheritance in literary creations,saying inheritance leads to perpetuity,while stressing the significance of adaptation to literary creations,saying adaptation leads to sufficiency.Previous scholars have all argued for the superiority of inheritance over adaptation,failing to give due acknowledgement to the positive role of adaptation and innovation in literary creations. In light of such,this paper presents a theoretical investigation into Liu Xie＇s dual concepts of adaptation and inheritance,the findings of which may provide certain reference value for the development of contemporary literary theories and for literary creations at large.